released September 9, 2009

Cover: Nathan Powell Design

"MR VICED HONEST / STEVE RICHMOND" EP by Mike Daily & Mr Viced Honest is on YouTube: youtu.be/FnZutA4PNVc


MR VICED HONEST

Guitar: Adam Levi Hungate

Bass: Chutz Ponderosa

Electronics: Foots

Drums: Luke Strahota

Lyrics/Vocals: Mike Daily


Mastered by Antreo Pukay, Tell Tale Recording


"For those of you relatively recent to the small press scene, the name of Steve Richmond may be unfamiliar. Steve was, in his day, one of the small press giants; a close friend of Bukowski, published by d.a. levy of Cleveland among many, many others, Steve was part of the original mimeograph small press revolution of the 60's which grew out of the Beats into one of the great counterculture movements in US history."

--Don Wentworth, Lilliput Review


"MR VICED HONEST / STEVE RICHMOND" EP


1. Mad Poet's Garden (1:59)

"Morrison came here the same reason you did. The poetry."


2. He Awoke (5:45)

He awoke, he wrote. Opened the curtains. Watched 6 or 7 pelicans—graceful—sweeping over the Pacific. Terrific! he wrote. Why go anywhere? And he didn't. Save select cafés and the Methadone clinic.

He lived alone in a rent-controlled bungalow and wrote poems on an antique Smith-Corona. He drew poisonous arachnids on the backs of envelopes and scored dope.

He was one of the most ignored poets in America according to the Los Angeles Free Press. Antonin Artaud meets Edgar Allan Poe in a morphine drip dream in distress.

He had a Zapatista streetsweeper mustache, smoked crack in Pyrex glass, and signed books for all his favorite waitresses and baristas. He fiended for one in particular from Sweden.

He called himself a mistake, worse than an abortion, and reportedly got his first hit of acid from Jim Morrison. He said it was a purple wafer the size of a Life Savers. Should he break it in half?

The Lizard King laughed. "No, man. Take the whole thing."

They were less than friends, more than acquaintances, at UCLA then Jim got famous. What've you been doin'? Just makin' money. What've you been doin'? Just makin' music. What've you been doin'? Just makin' candles. What've you been doin'?

He called himself a blunt instrument, worse than a candelabra, and reportedly got his fourth hit of acid from a psychedelic Sinatra. He said it was a sugar cube from a Woodstock guru. Should he break on through?

"No, man. Go to the emergency room."

They were less than friends, more than acquaintances, at UCLA then Jim got famous. What've you been doin'? Just makin' money. What've you been doin'? Just makin' music. What've you been doin'? Just makin' candles. What've you been doin'?

The lids he got from the shaman were not exactly chronic.


3. Schizoid Is Such a Swinging Way (1:57)

MR VICED HONEST . . . stay alive.

He had short-term memory loss and a long-reach stapler.

He typed on the platen when he ran out of paper.

He drew inspiration for his second publication from a fascist dictator who painted roses as a teenager.

Schizoid is such a swinging way.

He corresponded with William Wantling and went fishing on Convict Lake.

He kept burning in water, drowning in flame.

He heard from Bukowski:

ENDURANCE IS MORE
IMPORTANT THAN TRUTH

He learned from Bukowski:

SOLITUDE IS KEY
AVOID ALL GROUPS

He discerned from Bukowski:

DARK URINE MEANS
NOT ENOUGH FLUIDS

MR VICED HONEST.


4. Stagger the Lines (4:55)

Bukowski was enslaved by the left-hand margin, he raved. While he was F R E E to move about the page. Zig-zag. Stagger the lines. Return. Return. Return again and again and return again.

Return. Return. Return again and again and return again.

Return. Return. Return again and again and return again.

Stagger the lines. Zig-zag. Move about the page.

Return. Return. Return again and again and return again.

Stagger the lines. Zig-zag. Move about the page.

Bukowski was enslaved by the left-hand margin, he raved. While he was F R E E to move about the page. Zig-zag. Stagger the lines. Return. Return. Return again and again and return again.

MR VICED HONEST

OK! We get it!

MR VICED HONEST

Listen . . .

Aphrodite suggested he try Psychiatry. The cure, not the practice. She had too many honeys, he had too many habits. He asked her back to his shack and she laughed at him. One night was enough on her king-size mattress. She met a musician and moved to Manhattan.

Have no living heroes.


5. Charmian Kittredge (1:34)

I know you disliked parties and postal holidays and Jack London's second wife.


6. Listen (4:09)

"listen"
by Steve Richmond

listen we sacrificed the fame
stick to poetry
make a move into prose
and somehow we've lost
that certain touch

that shoe in my face
it's the novelist's fame
that short story writer
is only a short
story writer

listen we stick to poetry
we didn't want all that
false publicity
all that crap to build a
legend

listen we had a few hobbies
we had a t.v.
we had a record player
we had
a dozen healthy plants

"listen"
by Steve Richmond
(1976, Red Work, Black Widow)

MR VICED HONEST

MR VICED HONEST

MR VICED HONEST

Superb! he wrote. He fed birds wild seed. When his washer broke, he filled it with dirt and planted a fern.

He bet on boxing. Hagler over Hearns. Hagler won in the third. Marvelous! he wrote.

He yearned for two paid weeks in Europe.

But why go anywhere?

And he didn't.

His personal credo? Have no living heroes.